I missed this one last week.

“I think Ivanka would be incredible,” POTUS says when asked about his daughter as UN Ambassador. He bemoans that it would cause accusations of nepotism. “I’m not sure there’s anyone more competent in the world.”

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 9, 2018

Trump thinks his daughter, who worked as a model for a time and then moved to selling clothes made by badly underpaid Chinese workers, is likely the most competent candidate for UN ambassador IN THE WORLD.

Originally a comment by Bruce Gorton on On both sides.

Science isn’t magic. It isn’t some innate sense that people are born with that is “science” – it isn’t natural and it isn’t instinctual. It requires quite rigorous training to get good at it.

And a lot of it is all about taking the shit you think you know, the stuff you think is just “common sense” and testing it.

Scientists don’t get stuff right by applying their gut-feels to it, part of the training they undergo is learning not to apply gut feels to things, to actually come at the evidence in as unbiased a manner as possible because their brains will screw with their perceptions.

This is why you get research into stuff that seems obvious – because what is obvious isn’t always what is right.

And you know what? Even with all the training they undergo, even with how hard they work to do it, even the best scientists in the world do not have an instinct for science.

Albert Einstein couldn’t accept quantum mechanics, Linus Pauling sparked the vitamin craze, Isaac Newton was a whackjob alchemist.

Great physicists will wax lyrically wrong about biology, and great biologists will wax lyrically wrong about physics, both sets are scientists and even with lifetimes worth of training their abilities are often limited to their fields.

That is why there is peer review, why science has to work collectively and not individually, why the replication crisis is a crisis.

Even with peer review you still get issues with the biases of the reviewers, science takes a long, long time to figure stuff out precisely because it is not instinctual.

To even suggest you have an instinct for science is to fundamentally not get it.

Trump made a particularly absurd claim in his interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday.

He added: “I have a natural instinct for science…”

No. No no no. Oh no, not at all.

He has the opposite of that. Without even delving into details of his ignorance, we can say with great confidence that he has no such thing, for the simple reason that he constantly claims to know things that he can’t possibly know. That’s a dead giveaway. No one with “a natural instinct for science” does that. People with a natural instinct for science know how limited human knowledge is, how provisional most of it is, how necessary caution is, and so on.

Ironically, he made that claim in aid of invoking scientific doubt in the form of pseudo-skepticism. Climate change: oh, nobody knows, it’s all a toss-up, there’s no more evidence one way than another.

Trump again cast doubt on climate change, suggesting, incorrectly, that the scientific community was evenly split on the existence of climate change and its causes. There are “scientists on both sides of the issue,” Trump said.

“But what I’m not willing to do is sacrifice the economic well-being of our country for something that nobody really knows,” Trump said.

He added: “I have a natural instinct for science, and I will say that you have scientists on both sides of the picture.”

In the sense of three on one side and several million on the other, yes. In the sense of evenly split, no.

A couple of years ago the Georgia secretary of state – he who is now running for governor while remaining secretary of state even though the latter job involves supervision of elections – released a video on how to do early voting, which is still on the secretary of state website. There’s a funny thing about that video…

The video, produced in six different languages and still linked on the secretary of state’s website, shows a white boy arriving at his voting location, presenting his photo ID and successfully voting. The black girl who shows up to vote does not have the proper form of ID and is turned away from the poll.

The video—showing a white man being able to vote while a black woman is turned away—is gaining attention amid accusations of voter suppression in Georgia, as well as an alleged conflict of interest in the gubernatorial race.

The description is not actually accurate: the black girl is not turned away, she’s given a provisional ballot which she fills out and hands in, returning later with The Proper Form of Voter ID, which is apparently accepted, so the upshot seems to be that her vote will be counted.

That said – it’s still grotesque to make it the white boy [symbolizing a man] who does it right and the black girl [symbolizing a woman] who gets it wrong. This is Georgia we’re talking about. The people in Kemp’s office can be so dim that they did that by accident.

Election officials in Georgia have placed on hold the voter registrations of more than 50,000 people, most of whom are black, largely under a policy requiring personal information on registrations to precisely match Social Security or drivers’ license records. The man in charge of that system and the fairness of all Georgia elections is Republican Secretary of State Brain Kemp, who is running for governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams, a woman trying to become the country’s first black female governor.

The video has a striking resemblance to Abrams’s claims that Kemp is trying to suppress the vote of minorities and women through his official power. Her campaign has called for his resignation, or at least his recusal, as secretary of state, to end the alleged ongoing conflict of interest of overseeing his own election.

“We have known since 2016 that the exact match system has a disproportionate effect on people of color and on women,” Abrams said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

Which Kemp’s office helpfully illustrates with a video of a black woman [played by a girl] showing up to vote without the right ID. See? Like this.

I wanted to embed the video, but when I went to the YouTube page to get the share link I couldn’t get to it. Between the time I read the article and watched the video and the time I finished the post, the link became useless. It appears that Kemp’s people have now removed the video. So you can’t now watch it to confirm that the girl was not turned away but was “only” made to jump through extra hoops. But at least we know Kemp’s office is embarrassed.

Trump is doing a fascist rally in Missoula tonight, and his goons are issuing threats.

“For all the prospective attendees to the Trump event. Come early,” [Will] Deschamps, who chaired Republican state activities from 2009 to 2015, wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “Also all you protesters, show up as well. This is a concealed and open carry state and we know how to use em.”

In other words: if you show up, we will shoot you.

Deschamps, a Marine Corps veteran, signed off with “USMC trained,” an apparent reference to firearms expertise.

He said Thursday that the post was not to be taken as a directive for people to confront protesters or take weapons to the rally.

“I have genuine concern about what’s happening around the United States by these far, far-left antagonistic groups,” he told The Washington Post.

Like the ones in Charlottesville? Like the one Dylan Roof belonged to?

No, those are far, far-right antagonistic groups, and they are apparently a good thing.

There’s disagreement – highly charged disagreement – over whether the label “TERF” is a neutral descriptive label or a loaded pejorative one. The BBC has let us know what it thinks.

https://twitter.com/K_IngalaSmith/status/1052894983244668928

https://twitter.com/ThrupennyBit/status/1052895493242671104

Updating to add:

https://twitter.com/K_IngalaSmith/status/1053262037223137281

Result!

Oh please.

Facing scrutiny for cultivating close ties with Saudi Arabia’s powerful and domineering crown prince, Jared Kushner has remained intentionally in the background this week as West Wing officials feared a more public role would prompt backlash, multiple people familiar with the matter say.

A more public role as what? He’s just some guy, he’s not a foreign policy genius. He has no business being in the foreground at any time.

Kushner instead has been operating behind-the-scenes to mitigate the fallout but leaving public explanations to others as his father-in-law’s administration confronts a full-blown diplomatic crisis over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.

“Operating” how? That makes it sound as if he’s a diplomat or a state department civil servant. He’s a real estate marketer, period, end of qualifications.

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser has remained involved in the administration’s efforts, two sources familiar with the matter said, quietly leveraging his close relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman throughout the saga when asked and retreating to the sidelines when necessary. The sources said Kushner is wary of overstepping, mindful of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s purview as the nation’s top diplomat.

Overstepping what? His very presence is overstepping, it’s all overstepping, it’s Trump making his horse a high official. All this “has remained involved in the administration’s efforts” and “quietly leveraging his close relationship” and “retreating to the sidelines” crap assumes that Kushner is a legitimate expert on foreign policy, and that is in no way true. Can’t CNN report on him without normalizing his extremely abnormal presence and role in Trump’s gang of thieves?

[I]nstead of flying to the Saudi capital this week with Pompeo, Kushner remained in Washington, attending West Wing meetings as scheduled and exuding a calm demeanor amid mounting questions about whether he put too much trust in Prince Mohammed.

That’s not “exuding a calm demeanor,” it’s the placidity of an empty mind.

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on Mistakes were made.

Tune in this fall for the premier of “Law & Order: Trump Investigations Unit”

Detective: “Captain, the suspect was found at the crime scene, holding the murder weapon. He had the victim’s blood running down his arms. His DNA was found under the victim’s fingernails, showing signs of a struggle. Two weeks ago, he took out a life insurance policy on the victim naming himself as beneficiary. Multiple witnesses report that he had a screaming argument with the victim earlier in the day. A search of his personal computer revealed multiple Google queries for things like ‘how to get away with murder.’”

Captain Trump: “Well, let’s just see about this.”

(walks into interrogation room)

Captain: “Did you kill your wife?”

Suspect: “No.”

C: “Ok, then, you’re free to go.”

Detective (aghast): “Captain! We have all this evidence against him!”

C (shrugs): “Man says he didn’t do it. Whaddayagonnado?”

Voiceover: “Next week, on Law & Order: Trump Investigations Unit”

Detective: “Well, we thought we had the right suspect, but it turns out that DNA evidence conclusively proves him innocent.”

(camera pans to the suspect, a young black man)

Trump: “Hang him. And then get me a Big Mac.”

Pompeo is in Riyadh with his buddies.

President Trump dispatched Pompeo to the Saudi capital for talks with King Salman, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader.

“Secretary Pompeo conveyed the importance of a conducting a thorough, transparent and timely investigation,” said Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for the State Department.

…

In public, however, Pompeo never mentioned Khashoggi, a U.S. resident.

The secretary of state was all smiles, his hand outstretched, as he approached the crown prince.

“We are strong and old allies,” Mohammed told Pompeo before reporters were ushered out. “We face our challenges together — the past, the day of, tomorrow.”

Pompeo replied with enthusiasm: “Absolutely.”

Isn’t that sweet. We wouldn’t want anything to come between them.

In Istanbul, it was unclear what possible clues or leads the Turkish forensic team found.

Hours before the team arrived, journalists photographed a cleaning crew entering the consulate with buckets, mops and what appeared to be cleaning solution. When investigators entered the building, they said they smelled chemicals, according to two officials in contact with the investigators.

Excuse me? Hours before the forensic team got there, a cleaning crew went in and blitzed all the evidence?

Very transparent, I’m sure.

The “It’s ok to be white” vote:

The Australian Senate almost passed a motion affirming that “it’s OK to be white”. This probably sounds innocuous enough to the casual or incurious observer — and that’s exactly what the white supremacists who devised the slogan intended.

Well you’d have to be awfully casual or incurious to think statements that it’s ok to be [insert dominant group here] are innocuous. This one is a product of – you’ll never guess – 4chan.

The idea of using “it’s OK to be white” as part of a far right political project emerged around a year ago on the message board 4chan.

Always a home for trolls, over time certain boards on 4chan and its cousin 8chan have become nerve centres for far right activism.

The notion cooked up by one of the site’s anonymous users was that a postering campaign featuring the ostensibly inoffensive slogan would “trigger” leftists and journalists, who would immediately understand its racist intent.

Circular, isn’t it. Racist provocateurs come up with racist slogan saying that people who oppose racism would find it distasteful. Well duh. So what’s the point of spattering the world with stuff that people who oppose racism or sexism or xenophobia would find distasteful? Why, to demonstrate how foolish and wrong people who oppose racism or sexism or xenophobia are. I guess? Or just because it’s funny? But what’s funny about it?

No, see, it’s to draw everyone else, all the sensible people who don’t care about racism or sexism or xenophobia, into right-wing rage-addiction.

But it turned out to be too obvious.

[A]s the ADL points out, the slogan has been used by white supremacists for decades, and it was immediately identifiable as a racist meme.

White power bands were using it for song titles as far back as 2001, and it was appearing on white supremacist fliers as long ago as 2005.

That’s no surprise – “it’s OK to be white” perfectly expresses the sense of white victimhood that pervades white supremacist movements that see any demand for racial justice as an attack on white identity.

The slogan neatly encapsulates the imaginary universe of “reverse racism”, wherein critiques of white supremacy and structural racism are turned inside out, and used as evidence of anti-white racism. It captures the mindset that accuses those opposed to racism of being, themselves, racist.

Also, it was too popular with the upfront literal racists as opposed to trolls and Milo-types.

“It’s OK to be white” followed a path that many awful ideas have taken in the Trump era — from the cesspits of the alt right internet, through an increasingly confident far right street movement, and on through the self-aggrandising provocateurs who occupy increasingly prominent positions in conservative media.

Finally it got to Pauline Hanson. Then, unbelievably, it came to a vote in the Australian Senate.

Notwithstanding the white supremacist origins of the slogan, and the sentiment of white victimhood that underpins it, that body almost passed a motion supporting it.

The fact that this happened with the support of government ministers — including the Indigenous affairs minister — is beyond disheartening.

Sounds all too familiar.

H/t learie

It all went so terribly wrong.

Saudi Arabia is preparing a report that will acknowledge that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey, according to two sources.

Oh I see, it went wrong – they didn’t meant to kill him, they meant only to torture and kidnap him so that they could kill him on their own territory.

This isn’t a case of “went wrong,” because none of it was right in the first place. The Saudi dictatorship shouldn’t be “interrogating” people for writing opinion pieces for The Washington Post at all, and all the more so in other countries. It sure as hell should not be torturing the opinion writers it “interrogates.” How would an interrogation “go wrong” to such an extent that the subject dies? By being not an “interrogation” at all but a torture session.

And there’s Trump, in breaks from calling women “Horseface” and “Pocahontas,” flapping his hands and talking about Saudi money and saying the king was very insistent about not having murdered anyone.

This is the new normal.

The insult president.

“Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.” @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018

Ok he’s dead, ok we killed him, but it wasn’t murder, it was an interrogation gone wrong, all right? Are you happy now?

The Saudi government is preparing to say that the death of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was the result of an interrogation by Saudi operatives that went wrong, two sources close to the Saudi kingdom tell CBS News. Khashoggi vanished after entering a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, igniting a global firestorm over the circumstances of his disappearance.

Saudi officials are expected to claim that the mission was initiated to interrogate Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the government, not to kill him.

Of course, they didn’t have any business “interrogating” him either, if you think human rights are a thing.

The admission would mark a departure from the kingdom’s repeated insistence that it had no knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi, who was picking up paperwork needed to marry his fiancée. CNN first reported that the Saudis were planning to admit Khashoggi died in the consulate.

As recently as Monday morning, Saudi leaders were still not admitting any wrongdoing.

That was then. Can’t a guy change his mind?